10 FEBRUARY 2001, Page 63

A. Give your daughter a short, sharp shock by staging

an ambush. Target three or four of your adult friends with whom she is not particularly well acquainted and equip them with Balaclavas or perhaps Tony Blair masks, widely available in all tourist shops. Directing operations by mobile telephone, arrange for them to jump out at her when she is on her way home alone one night. Obviously they need not actually attack her — it would be sufficient were they just to chase her home emitting warlike cries. Usually just one Little Red Riding Hood-style incident is enough to bring adolescent arrogance under control.